Every week as SmallBizLady, I conduct interviews with experts on my Twitter talk show #SmallBizChat. The show takes place every Wednesday on Twitter from 8-9 pm ET. This is excerpted from my recent interview with Ernane Iung who is the author of “The Success Factor – Unconventional Wisdom for Small Business Success”. He shares the most important things to consider when starting your company, and contrast conventional wisdom with the latest, but proven unconventional wisdom. For more info www.successfactormedia.com. SmallBizLady: WHAT IS MEANT EXACTLY BY REFERRAL MARKETING? WHAT KIND OF MARKETING IS IT REALLY? Ernane Iung: A method of creating revenue for growing a start-up’s business – the “systematic cultivation of business by referral. It’s the system by which business owners create, manage, and leverage their social capital to generate referrals. Referral marketing is about creating a plan that capitalizes on word of mouth to generate referrals. It starts with networking and ends in strong referrals that catapult business owners to stratospheric levels. SmallBizLady: WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF SUCCESS OF REFERRAL MARKETING? Ernane Iung: Trust is the hallmark of any strong relationship and the same holds true for a good referral. It’s based on developing deep biz relationships as a transfer of trust in you and the referral. That’s right. Referrals cannot happen unless trust is present. Relationships, and most certainly the strong relationships that create referrals, do not happen overnight, and must be built over time, always implicitly involving trust. SmallBizLady: HOW IS REFERRAL MARKETING MEASURED? Ernane Iung: All marketing: Trade Marketing, Advertising, Product Marketing, Tele-Marketing, Digital Marketing, or any other – must be measurable. The metrics are somewhat different, not being directly financially quantitative for example, an ROI (Return on Investment), but rather as you build your Social Capital through Referral Marketing, you will see a corresponding impact on your business – and that of course, is financial and does hit your bottom line. SmallBizLady: HOW DO YOU MEASURE AND MONITOR YOUR REFERRAL MARKETING ACTIVITIES? Ernane Iung: To measure and monitor your Referral marketing activities I recommend using a scorecard that breaks down down and separates your referral activities into five primary areas called “Tactics.” The 5 tactics essential to effective Referral Marketing are:
SmallBizLady: WHAT IS ANOTHER COMPONENT OF REFERRAL MARKETING IMPORTANT TO KNOW? Ernane Iung: One of the most important concepts of a referral marketing platform focuses on the concept of giving. Although we are talking about the application of Referral Marketing in a business context, it’s really an act of giving. Referral marketing or plain “giving” has a well-proven context, including our biz interests, since the beginning of time. SmallBizLady: ERNANE, THIS IS ALL WELL AND GOOD, BUT DOES REFERRAL MARKETING ACTUALLY WORK? Ernane Iung: consider these proven statistics on the outcomes from your investment in referral marketing:
Evidence that “the trust platform“ is created from the referral continues to pay dividends during the 1st year of business and onward. If you found this interview helpful, join us on Wednesdays 8-9 pm ET; follow @SmallBizChat on Twitter. Here’s how to participate in #SmallBizChat: http://bit.ly/1hZeIlz The post How to Use Referral Marketing to Expand Your Social Capital appeared first on Succeed As Your Own Boss. from http://succeedasyourownboss.com/how-to-use-referral-marketing-to-expand-your-social-capital/
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AuthorHello I am Teri Crawford 26 years old living in Toronto, Canada. I have recently finished my MBA and planning to start my own business. Archives
November 2018
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